sustain ourselves while increasing the planet’s vitality. In
the process, we preserve resources, breathe cleaner air,
enjoy good exercise, and eat pure food.
They’re making more people every day, but they ain’t makin’ any
more dirt.
— WILL ROGERSWhat are the dimensions of the challenge of raising
food that sustains the soil? Current agricultural practices
reportedly destroy approximately 6 pounds of soil for
each pound of food produced.^1 United States croplands
are losing topsoil about 18 times faster than the soil
formation rate. This loss is not sustainable. In fact,
worldwide only about 33 to 49 years’ worth of farmable
soil remains.^2
Why is this happening? Conventional agricultural
practices often deplete the soil 18 to 80 times more
rapidly than nature builds soil. This phenomenon
happens when the humus (cured organic matter) in the
soil is used up and not replaced, when cropping patterns
are used that tend to deplete the soil’s structure, and
when minerals are removed from the soil more rapidly
than they are replaced. Even organic farming probably
depletes the soil 9 to 67 times faster than nature builds
it, by importing organic matter and minerals from other
soils, which thereby becomes increasingly depleted. The
planetary result is a net reduction in overall soil quality.
In contrast, the techniques used in GROW
BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming can build the